High school notebook: Former Mustang player remembered as outdoorsman

Alan Green had a special bond with Matt Scott that went beyond the typical player-coach relationship. Green, the former Mustang basketball coach, had known Scott for nearly nine years and coached him for the last two on the varsity basketball team, but the two shared a love of the outdoors.

Scott, 19, died on Dec. 30 when the pickup he was riding in was struck by a tractor-trailer that ran a stop sign, according to Oklahoma Highway Patrol reports. Scott, riding in the passenger seat, died instantly.

The accident happened on Highway 64, just east of Boise City in the Oklahoma Panhandle early that morning.

Two others who were riding in the pickup remain hospitalized. Nine people, all either recent graduates or current students at Mustang, were traveling in two cars on their way to Colorado for a skiing trip.

“We had Matt's funeral at the school last Friday, and almost 1,000 people were here,” Green said. “Matt was an outstanding kid, just an unbelievable young man. He was an easygoing, quiet kid with lots of friends. He was a country boy who loved to hunt and fish.

“That was a personal bond he and I shared. We related on a personal level because we had so much of that stuff in common.”

A 2012 Mustang graduate, Scott played both basketball and baseball during his time at the school. He had just completed his first semester studying mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State University.

PCI GAMES TO AIR ON NEWSOK

Eight games from the Putnam City Invitational boys basketball tournament will be webcast live on NewsOK.com in conjunction with Zpreps.com.

All four of Thursday's first-round games will be carried from Putnam City North, as well as Friday's semifinals and the third-place and championship game on Saturday.

A field that includes all ranked teams, and represents nine of the last 13 Class 6A state champions will tip off Thursday with defending champ Tulsa Union vs. Lawton Eisenhower at 2:30 p.m.

No. 1 Midwest City will face Lawton at 4 p.m., followed by Putnam City vs. John Marshall at 5:30 and Putnam City North vs. Putnam City West at 7.

LAWRENCE EXPECTED TO VISIT OREGON STATE

Del City's Corey Lawrence is expected to take a weekend visit to Oregon State.

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A lifelong resident of the Oklahoma City metro area, Scott Wright has been on The Oklahoman staff since 2005, covering a little bit of everything on the state's sports scene. He has been a beat writer for football and basketball at Oklahoma and...